While in Chicago last weekend at the National Restaurant Association show, I quickly remembered why that city is one of my favorites: it is a service-minded town. Granted, taxi drivers are not talkative like Chicago cabbies used to be, and I miss that. But at every other point of service contact made in my brief 24-hour [...]
Last week, the Distilled Spirits Council of the United States brought about a dozen writers to town for the last stop on a 10-day tour of what it calls America’s Whiskey Trail. Kentucky is a fitting end, don’t you think? The writers’ tour ended with a Crafts, Cocktails & Bluegrass party at the Distilled Spirits Epicenter on [...]
(Full disclosure: I am a Bible believing non-denominational Christian. I spent the first 18 years of my life growing up Catholic, yet never truly accepting many of its core tenets. I followed that with 12 years what could fairly be described as heathenism before, at age 30, accepting Christ as my Lord and Savior. I am [...]
Following a lengthy zoning approval process, Beer Engine, a craft brewery in Danville Kentucky, is back on track for 2013 opening in Germantown. Last summer, owner Brian Holton set about launching the business in what formerly was The Zeppelin Café at 1036 East Burnette. But, all progress came to a halt when Holton was told [...]
Think you’ve tasted lots of beers? Then you might find next Saturday’s Highland’s Beer Festival a brew brush-up. At current count, vendors and breweries will be pouring tastes of 213 beers (from about 60 breweries), a sampling impossible to manage in the 5-9 p.m. time period for sure, but we’re sure a few will give [...]
My, what a difference a month makes. That’s how long Tyler Powell was executive chef at St. Charles Exchange before announcing he’ll leave May 22 to take charge of kitchen at The Silver Dollar. Powell got the St. Charles post in April in the wake of the departure of then executive chef Patrick McCandless. According [...]
Kentucky Derby Week is hell on restaurant crews. Just ask Matt Saltzman, CEO of Pallas Partners, which owns Quattro on Fourth Street Live. The restaurant closed Monday and Tuesday to get its bearings before a scheduled reopening Wednesday night. “Derby week was the most hellacious experience I’ve ever seen,” Saltzman said. “So we closed for two days to [...]
I go to a lot of soft openings/pre-openings/VIP receptions/previews/peeks … whatever you want to call them … before a restaurant officially takes off the wraps, and I sometimes leave those events thinking, “This one’s not long for this world.” I harbor no such thoughts about Sidebar at Whiskey Row, which smartly conducted several private [...]
The Oakroom to host Great Gatsby movie and dinner June 1-2
It’s hard to go to high school in Louisville and not have to read F. Scott Fitzgerald’s classic, “The Great Gatsby,” since there are so many local references made in the book. The book begins with military man and main character Jay Gatsby stationed at Camp Taylor, whose barracks were turned into apartments now called [...]